Because of the well-known difficulty of threading conventional manual sewing needles having narrow eyes formed at their trailing ends, a form of needle has been proposed incorporating a closed loop of a thin filament secured to the rear end of the needle. Thread to be used with the needle may be easily passed through the loop, which is substantially larger than the needle eye, and in use the loop is pulled through the fabric, behind the needle, carrying the thread through the fabric.
One form of such needle is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,293,660. The loops disclosed in this patent are secured to the needles by passing them through a conventional eye formed on the rear of the needle body.
Another form of looped needle, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,341, is intended primarily for surgical purposes. The needle body is formed with a truncated end having a central, dead-ended cavity opening at the end. The free ends of the filament forming the loop are secured within this cavity and the loop projects from the rear of the cavity. This arrangement necessitates that the needle body have a thickness many times the diameter of the filament and can only be employed with very thick needles or with filaments that are so thin as to be practically invisible.
The deficiencies of these previous designs for needles with following loops have apparently prevented such needles from making any substantial market penetration against conventional needles, despite the obvious advantages of the looped needle.